Regional Needs Assessment Mindfulness Curriculum Group-Based Mindfulness Program for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Suzannah Iadarola, Valerie Smith, & Susan Hetherington Rochester Regional Center for Autism Spectrum Disorder Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities, University of Rochester 1Abbeduto et al., 2004 2 Jones et al., 2014 3Ferraioli & Harris, 2013 4 Dykens et al., 2015 5Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2001 Background Parents of children with ASD report particularly high levels of stress1 Common mechanisms of stress include avoidance, lack of control, distancing2 Mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) have been increasingly popular for addressing health and stress in parents of children with developmental disabilities3,4 Week Topic Content 1 Awareness and automatic pilot Introduce mindfulness, mindful practice, home practice 2 Bringing awareness to thoughts Automatic thoughts, observing thoughts, relationship among thoughts and emotions, discuss mindful interactions with children 3 Seeing thoughts as thoughts Mental tapes, seeing thoughts as thoughts, grief and loss, addressing thoughts in the moment 4 Nonjudgmental acceptance Acceptance, identifying judgments, attachment and aversion , leaning into suffering 5 Self-compassion and lovingkindness Noticing links between activity and mood, identifying pleasant activities, introducing self-compassion, identifying means of self-care 6 Expanded awareness Staying present, expanding awareness, dealing with difficulty, effectiveness, program summary; plans for continued practice Regional Needs Assessment Completed through the Rochester Regional Center for ASD, a state-funded resource center Surveys sent to parents, providers, and stakeholders in 17 counties in Western New York Family stress identified as a large concern Successes -100% of parents rated the program as “helpful” or “very helpful” -Enrollment continues to grow -Parents enjoy group format -We were able to start providing child care last year Barriers -Daytime versus evening preference -Attending every session is difficult --Funding to disseminate more broadly in the community Next Steps -Continue with our annual program -Expand programs to educators working with students with ASD -Continue to individualize program based upon participant feedback Mindfulness Curriculum Mindfulness: Techniques that emphasizes awareness of thoughts, beliefs, and feelings, the objective of which is to change an individual’s relationship to and experience of distress Curriculum 6 weekly, 2 hour groups meetings (6-13 parents) Adapted from Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression5 Didactics, discussion, mindfulness practice, home practice Aspects of format and content were driven by needs assessment Previous Research Shown to be feasible and efficacious in two small studies3 Associated with improvements in global health (p=.02) and perception of difficult child behavior (p=.05), compared to psychoeducation group High satisfaction rates (4.3/5.0) High feasibility (79% retention) 3 parents Year 1 6 parents Year 2 13 parents Year 3 Supported by the NYS Education Department and the University of Rochester CTSA award number UL1 RR024160 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.